First type of complaint
- You see a problem.
- You state a complaint. “I don’t like this!”
- You see that you can take action to resolve the problem.
- You then take action.
- You resolve the problem.
- This has been a purposeful complaint.
Second type of complaint
- You see a problem.
- You see that you cannot take action to resolve it.
- You do see that there is someone who can resolve it.
- You effectively communicate and state your complaint to that person (powerful request).
- That person then takes action.
- The problem gets resolved.
- This has been a purposeful complaint.
Third type of complaint
- You see a problem.
- You do not care to take action to resolve the problem, nor do you care to communicate with the person who could responsibly resolve it.
- You state your complaint to anyone who will listen and agree with you.
- The problem does not get resolved.
- You continue to complain for the sake of complaining. (this means anything longer than 5 minutes)
- You are engaged in gossip, blaming, shaming and trying to impose guilt.
- This type of complaint has no purpose, whatsoever!
- In fact, this type of complaint is destructive.
- There is no room for this type of complaining in a high-performance organization, and must not be tolerated.
“The degree to which an organization reaches it fullest potential, is the degree to which it does not tolerate unworkability.”
-Ruben J Guzman, MPH
© 2008 Ruben J Guzman, MPH